1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus for controlling an electronic equipment for vehicles, and more particularly, to an apparatus for controlling operations of an electronic equipment, such as an audio equipment, an equipment for navigation or the like, employed in a vehicle in response to conditions of use of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various electronic equipment is employed in a vehicle, especially a passenger car, to be used as an electronic equipment for vehicles by a driver or other passenger, in addition to motor-operated apparatus, each of which performs its proper functions with the aid of electronic power, such as a motor-operated door locking mechanism for locking and unlocking doors of the vehicle, a motor-operated window mechanism for opening and closing windows, a motor-operated mirror mechanism for adjusting door mirrors and so on. For example, an audio equipment, a television receiver, an equipment for navigation, a wireless telephone equipment and so on are applied as the electronic equipment for vehicles. The electronic equipment for vehicles, such as the audio equipment, the equipment for navigation or the like, operates usually under an operation control by a control unit constituted by, for example, a microcomputer provided in the vehicle.
When the vehicle in which the electronic equipment for vehicles is employed is used to drive, the electronic equipment is put in a standby condition from which the equipment can be immediately shifted into a normally operating condition with manual handling to a switch or the like provided on the equipment by a driver or passenger or in the normally operating condition into which the equipment has shifted from the standby condition. The standby condition of the electronic equipment for vehicles is started usually when the driver handles a key put in a key switch portion provided in the vehicle for starting an engine mounted on the vehicle.
The key switch portion provided in the vehicle is provided with an accessory position in addition to a start position, a switch-on position, a lock position and so on. When the key is put in the key switch portion and handled to correspond to the accessory position, the motor-operated apparatus and an electronic equipment for vehicles employed in the vehicle is supplied with electric power through a specific power supply line called an accessory line from a battery or a generator provided in the vehicle. The control unit is operative to detect a rising in voltage of the electric power supplied through the accessory line and when the rising in voltage of the electric power supplied through the accessory line is detected by the control unit, the electronic equipment for vehicles employed in the vehicle is shifted into the standby condition from a nonoperating condition (sleep condition).
Further, there has been previously proposed such a system that an electronic equipment for vehicles, such as a television receiver having a liquid crystal display panel portion, is caused to commence to operate during a self-starting motor provided in a vehicle in which the electronic equipment for vehicles is employed is rotating for starting an engine mounted on the vehicle or after the self-starting motor has finished rotating, as shown in, for example, Japanese patent laid-open publication No. HEI10-248179.
In the case where the electronic equipment for vehicles is put in the standby condition in response to the rising in voltage of the electric power supplied through the accessory line or the electronic equipment for vehicles is caused to commence to operate during the self-starting motor is rotating or after the self-starting motor has finished rotating, as described above, it is usual that the electronic equipment for vehicles is not put in the standby condition nor caused to commence to operate until a condition of use of the vehicle is started by, for example, an unlocking operation to a door lock to open a door and then the driver on a driver's seat puts the key in the key switch portion and handles the key for causing the vehicle to commence driving.
It is generally necessary for the electronic equipment for vehicles to spend a predetermined transition time for performing normal operations properly on the occasion of the shift to the standby condition from the nonoperating condition or the commencement of the operation. Especially, in case of the electronic equipment for vehicles in which a memory device in the hard disc type is driven, such as the equipment for navigation, the transition time necessitated on the occasion of the shift to the standby condition from the nonoperating condition or the commencement of the operation comes to be relatively long. Consequently, when the electronic equipment for vehicles is put in the standby condition in response to the rising in voltage of the electric power supplied through the accessory line or the electronic equipment for vehicles is caused to commence to operate during the self-starting motor is rotating or after the self-starting motor has finished rotating, the driver or passenger having gotten on the vehicle can not cause the electronic equipment for vehicles to perform the normal operations properly just after the condition of use of the vehicle is started by, for example, the unlocking operation to the door lock to open the door, but has to waste a certain time corresponding to the transition time mentioned above after the key is put in the key switch portion and handled for causing the vehicle to commence driving in order to cause the electronic equipment for vehicles to perform the normal operations properly. This brings about inconveniences on the use of the electronic equipment for vehicles and if the electronic equipment for vehicles is especially the equipment for navigation, such inconveniences are especially displeasing to the driver or passenger.